Suspension Options?

The T-bar suspension, was cutting edge at it's introduction. Nearly 60 years later it is still being copied.

Fitting headers may not be a bolt-in deal, but most 273s don't need long-tube headers anyway . It takes a pretty big cam in a 273 to really need long-tubes.
If I had a first-gen barracuda V8 and thought it needed long-tubes, I would fabricate them before I would swap away the T-bar suspension.Or I would pay someone to make the popular brand ones fit. I mean prices for those aftermarket set-ups, after all is said and done
are way out of my budget.
In Canuck bucks, they are about equivalent to 670 hours of wages to me.To me, that represents a half a year's wages.
I don't know how many sets of hand-made headers I could fabricate in 670 hours, but I bet it would be more than 1.